If there is one quality that Latin American leaders share it’s paranoia. Unfortunately, their paranoia is justified by historical fact. For more than a century the United States has influenced Latin American governments, supported its wealthy elite, and exploited it while the majority of its inhabitants have endured severe economic hardships and, in many cases, abuse by regimes supported by the United States. In truth, there is a laundry list of precedents regarding US political interference in Latin America that, in many cases, resulted in ...More »

Recently it was discovered that the Pentagon worked to place various retired military commanders at the disposal of various news networks as ‘analysts’. Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to such individuals as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates”, their role being to reinforce administration policy. It should also noted that the majority of them represent in excess of 150 military contractors as either lobbyists, consultants, board members, or senior executives. In a free society, the willful usurpation of the integrity of the fourth estate by the ...More »

A reader, Kevin Mejlholm, recommended the following lecture (*See update below) by David Ray Griffin regarding 9/11. I am posting this not to promote the ideas presented by Griffin, but rather to simply present information that I think should be presented. Therefore, if you want to spend the time watching this lecture, which is one hour and thirty-eight minutes in length, I would be interested to hear your views in the comments as an exercise in open public debate. The video is too large to ...More »

Removed from a situation, so much so that it has become an informational inconvenience, not to mention social taboo with regards to conversation, how do societies at war deal with the realities of war given the distance from which they are viewed? With regards to fighting abroad, this reality provides those promoting conflicts abroad with the ability to use disingenuous justifications and rhetoric to not merely defend their purpose, but to casually address the failures produced by them. Besides those fighting in Iraq, what experience does ...More »

In today’s Toronto Star, Eric Margolis makes some interesting points about the recent Manley Report. His first criticism I found to be particularly well put… “The report on Afghanistan delivered Monday by the Manley panel was deeply disappointing. Its totally predictable findings could have been written without the panel of instant Afghan experts wasting millions of tax dollars.” Margolis’ assertion in that paragraph should not be overlooked, no matter your position on Canada’s role in Afghanistan. The report, despite its goals, produced very little in the way ...More »

Life is getting better. Our people on the ground see it every day, according to the likes of the Foreign Affairs Minister and our military’s top General. Our mission in Afghanistan is, according to them, of paramount importance. Of course, there is a schism between the two realities – helping reconstitute a nation or representing the third largest active combat force in the country that has suffered, in comparison to their counterparts, significantly more fatalities when the size of each force is taken into account. This ...More »

For those interested, here's George Stroumboulopoulos' recent interview with author, columnist & activist Naomi Klein on The Hour discussing The Shock Doctrine. More »

There is a price tag on everything, that is something that should never be overlooked when it comes to the realities of foreign aid and economic agreements. While we are able to point to the world’s richest nations as being the most prolific when it comes to humanitarian aid, including the bolstering of medical initiatives to help fight, for example, the AIDS epidemic in Africa, such practices do not, nor have they ever, come without a price. One of the best examples of how Western ...More »

Fact and fiction have always been bedfellows, and that has never been more evident than when one examines the vast misconception that the regime of Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. To this day, some six years after the fact - and long before Iraq was even on the public’s radar - many Americans still believe this gross, and entirely disproved, falsehood to be true. As if that in itself isn’t worrisome enough, there are now television commercials being aired actually promoting that which ...More »

Six years ago today we all know where we were and what occurred. In fact, we will never forget, and efforts will be made to ensure that. What happened six years ago today opened the flood gates, and we are, all of us, now up to our necks in it. For today, the 11th of September, is the Bush administration’s 4th of July. Does it seem timely that General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker’s testimony before Congress with regards to the supposed success of the surge in ...More »